Consumer products include liquid products and/or pourable solid products. In various embodiments, a container can be used to receive, contain, and dispense one or more products. And, in various embodiments, a container can be used to receive, contain, and/or dispense individual articles or separately packaged portions of a product. A container can include one or more product volumes. A product volume can be configured to be filled with one or more products. A container receives a product when its product volume is filled. Once filled to a desired volume, a container can be configured to contain the product(s) in its product volume(s), until the product(s) is/are dispensed. A container contains a product by providing a barrier around the product. The barrier prevents the product from escaping the product volume. The barrier can also protect the product from the environment outside of the container. A filled product volume is typically closed off by a cap or a seal. A container can be configured to dispense one or more products contained in its product volume(s). Once dispensed, an end user can consume, apply, or otherwise use the product(s), as appropriate. In various embodiments, a container may be configured to be refilled and reused or a container may be configured to be disposed of after a single fill or even after a single use. A container should be configured with sufficient structural integrity, such that it can receive, contain, and dispense its product(s), as intended, without failure.
A container can be configured to dispense product(s) through the use of gravity, and/or pressure, and/or a dispensing mechanism, such as a pump, or a straw, or through the use of other kinds of dispensers known in the art. Efforts to dispense products from flexible containers typical result in incomplete dispensing of the products. In some instances as much as 20% of the product may remain un-dispensed and therefore unused by the consumer.
What is desired is a cost-effective mechanism for improving the extent to which product is dispensed from a flexible container.